Two gangs of robbers busted, five arrested

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 17

The Amritsar (Rural) police have busted two gangs of robbers by arresting their five members while two others are absconding.

The police claimed to have solved the case in which four persons had snatched a taxi (an SUV) at gunpoint near the Tangra railway crossing here on Saturday.

They have been identified as Taraspal Singh of Jodhe village, Gurjant Singh of Shahpur village and Hardeep Singh of Kammoke village.

One of their accomplices, Mukhtiar Singh of Jodhe village, is yet to be arrested.

Preetam Chand, the driver of the taxi, who originally hailed from Kangra in Himachal Pradesh, had lodged a complaint stating that he worked as a driver with Vicky taxi stand.

He drove an Innova car (PB-10-CK-9477), owned by Ajit Singh of Jalandhar.

On Saturday, around 3 am, four persons came to the taxi stand and one of them introduced himself as Taraspal Singh.

He hired a taxi for Muchhal village near Tangra for attending a marriage.

He said around 6 am, the youth sitting beside the driver took out a pistol and put it on his head and fled away with the vehicle, he added.

Meanwhile, the police also busted ‘Batua’ gang and arrested two persons, including its kingpin Harpreet Singh alias Batua, a resident of Butala village.

He, along with Jagjit Singh of Takapur and Manpreet Singh alias Mannu Padda, had allegedly looted a money exchanger identified as Sarabjit Singh at Butala village on September 29.

They looted Rs 6 lakh and foreign currency worth Rs 75,000 from Sarabjit Singh. When Sararbjit resisted, they fired at him, injured him seriously.

He was rushed to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital where his condition was stated to be out of danger.

The entire incident was captured on the CCTV camera of Punjab National Bank and his shop.

The police had recovered some foreign currency and Rs 11,000 from their possession. SSP Amritsar (Rural) said investigation was on and raids were conducted to arrest the absconders.